Police report hundreds of calls to Wal-Mart

BEECH GROVE, Ind. (WISH) – A brawl between two women caught on camera inside the Beech Grove Wal-Mart is gaining national attention.

Police said it’s not the first time officers have been called to the store.

Beech Grove Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Maurice said the department had 789 calls between February and December of 2014.

This year officers have responded to the location 486 times, mostly for theft. The calls have resulted in 472 arrests.

“It is a large amount of runs and arrests for one address,” explained Maurice, who said it’s taxing on the department.

“It’s an issue that needs to be addressed,” he said. “And I’m sure that Wal-Mart is willing to work with us to try to figure something out.”

Wal-Mart spokesperson Brian Nick said, as part of the retail industry, Walmart is subject to shoplifting and that the company has a “variety of measures in place and ongoing technological developments that are constantly being updated to address shoplifting and people being in our stores for the wrong reasons.”

Nick said Wal-Mart and Beech Grove police have been in contact with each other to talk about solutions.

“If we can partner with law enforcement to reduce the amount of visits that they have to pay to the store, that’s certainly something that we look forward to a continuing dialogue about,” Nick said.